NJ News & Views

[Editor's Note: At 7:27 p.m. on April 20, at 9:17 p.m. on April 21 and at 8:28 p.m. on April 22, 2012, this story was edited for style, content and accuracy.

Lakewood voters seeking change may once again be disappointed.

Instead of one official elected to the Lakewood Board of Education and appointed to a township development board, there will now be two officials elected to the Lakewood Board of Education and appointed to a township development board.

A third official reportedly resigned his position on a township development board two days after the April 17 school election, but two years after his election to the board of education.

The dual positions are a conflict of interest since appointed members of the Lakewood Planning Board and the Lakewood Zoning Board of Adjustment hear applications to develop schools, while elected members of the Lakewood Board of Education fund district services to schools.

Members of the Lakewood Township Committee appoint members to the Lakewood planning and zoning boards. However, political interests that endorse candidates elected to the township committee recommend candidates for appointment to the development boards.

Many of those political interests own or work for Lakewood schools.

Joel Schwartz and Lee Mund, appointed by local government to the Lakewood Zoning Board of Adjustment in 2011, will join former Lakewood Planning Board member Carl Fink, who was elected to the BOE in 2010.

According to Lakewood Township Clerk Mary Ann Del Mastro, Schwartz did not file a state-required Financial Disclosure Statement in 2011.

The township does not prohibit appointees that have not filed a disclosure from serving on Lakewood development boards, even though development approvals have been challenged in state Superior Court based on members' conflicts of interest.

Prior to adjournment of the Lakewood Township Committee meeting on April 19, Mayor Menashe Miller announced that Fink had tendered his resignation from the planning board.

That does not mean another township official does not have a conflict of interest with the duties he performs working with the planning board and the board of education.

On April 19, Miller also announced that Committeeman Steven Langert and Deputy Mayor Aisik (Isaac/Albert) Akerman would review the 2012-13 school budget that voters had defeated on April 17.

Akerman serves as the 2012 liaison to both development boards.

The zoning board of adjustment, unlike the planning board, is a quasi-autonomous panel that grants exceptions to township zoning adopted by the Lakewood Township Committee.

Last year, Akerman was not only the zoning board liaison, but the committeeman appointed to review the defeated school budget that Fink, a member of the planning board, had proposed to voters with the rest of the BOE.

During a committee discussion last year, Akerman said he was not very good at negotiating with the board - even though one of the board members was a committee appointee.

The Lakewood Township Committee first appointed Fink to the planning board in May 2007, when he filled the remaining months of an unexpired 4-year term. The committee appointed Fink to a full 4-year term on the planning board in January 2008, then re-appointed him retroactive to January 1, 2012.

Because the state has not prohibited elected representatives on the Lakewood Board of Education (BOE) from continuing to serve concurrently on municipal development boards, Schwartz and Mund could be voting on cuts to the defeated 2012-13 school budget proposed by Fink and reviewed by committeemen that appointed all three.

Following adoption of a 2012-13 school budget, Schwartz and Mund may also continue to hear development applications by school owners that will also seek board approval of publicly-funded district services - just as Fink may have done during the two years he served on both the planning board and the BOE.

At stake is the faith and trust of Lakewood parents, students and voters.

Incumbent Yoni Silver and newcomers Mund and Schwartz won election to the BOE on a wave of growing voter discontent over mismanagement of district finances and public and non-public school education.

So did the other six incumbent BOE members.

Change is now in the hands of a new majority on the board, elected over the past three years.

Whether or not change comes to the BOE remains to be seen.

There are several small, but important steps the board can take to demonstrate their willingness to provide transparent government.

Instead of going back into executive session after a public meeting has been called to order, board members can schedule their executive session at an earlier hour in order to allot the time needed for personnel and contractual business.

Instead of scheduling board meetings at 8 a.m. on a weekday morning, when many members of the public must either prepare themselves for work or prepare their children for school, board members should hold their meetings at 8 p.m. on an alternate weeknight.

Board members can ask the township committee to negotiate its new cable contract to include televised coverage of all municipal and district meetings open to the public.

Board members can stream live online coverage of their meetings, which other area boards already do, and archive the recordings on the district Web site so a greater number of residents can view them.

The district Web site should include an e-mail address for each board member, as well as an e-mail address for each district administrator.

By posting an e-mail address for each board member on the district Web site, members can respond to e-mail questions submitted during televised and streamed board meetings. The change would enable board members to disseminate their responses to a wider audience.

The new district Web site needs to better inform visitors to it.

Three years ago, the board settled two Open Public Records Act (OPRA) complaints filed in 2007 by this editor/reporter by agreeing to post meeting agendas before scheduled board meetings. The board also agreed to post meeting minutes at least one month after board approval.

After the district built a new Web site that went online at the start of 2012, the board no longer posted many of the documents it agreed to publicly disseminate in settlement of this editor/reporter's OPRA complaints.

On April 19, there were no approved meeting minutes at all posted on the new district Web site.

Lakewood Superintendent of Schools Lydia Silva, whose contract designates her as the OPRA records custodian, did not respond to a request by this editor/reporter for electronic copies of some of the missing documents.

Silva's contract is posted on the new district Web site, including its expiration date of June 30, 2012.

Last year, board members reportedly discussed firing Silva before the expiration of her contract. Members announced at a subsequent meeting that they would not fire Silva, but approved an agenda item confirming the expiration date of her contract in 2012.

By announcing Silva's exit so close to the expiration date of her contract, there may be less public opposition to candidates being interviewed to succeed her - which was not the case three years ago, when the board hired Silva.

Based on the requirements of Silva's contract, the board had grounds to fire her before it expired.

Silva's contract requires her to increase the district's public school graduation rate by 10 percent annually.

Several weeks ago, the media reported that the district had a 37 percent graduation rate - one of the lowest in the state.

Residents reportedly called for the board to fire her.

The board could not fire Silva in 2012 because they had already voted not to renew her contract a year earlier.

Instead of allowing a failed superintendent to save face, the board had a responsibility to fire her and find a replacement as soon as possible.

Last month, the Asbury Park Press reported that Silva had submitted her resignation to the board, effective the same date her contract reportedly expired in 2012.

Based on the report, NJ News & Views sent a March 10 e-mail request for comment to board President Meir Grunhut, whose bid for re-election was defeated on April 17.

Grunhut served on the board the past decade.

Irene Miccio, a board member for over three decades, was also defeated on April 17 in her bid for re-election to another 3-year term.

Meir Singer, one of six candidates running for three open seats on the Lakewood BOE, failed to win a first 3-year term.

The reporter asked Grunhut if the board intended to challenge any attempt by Silva to collect unemployment insurance since she had announced her resignation effective the same date her contract expired.

Grunhut informed the reporter he would not respond to her questions.

The following day, the Asbury Park Press reported Silva's retirement, effective the same date her contract expired.

The paper did not correct its previous report announcing Silva's resignation.

Silva's contract required that she move to Lakewood upon accepting the position of superintendent there. Although Silva oversees a district that educates school-age children, in 2010, she purchased a home in the Lakewood retirement community of The Four Seasons, which excludes them.

After the media reported Silva's retirement at the end of the 2011-12 school year, a letter purportedly written by the Lakewood superintendent was posted online as well. The letter, announcing Silva's retirement, included a lengthy defense of her record the past three years.

The letter included numerous grammatical and spelling errors.

The reporter asked Grunhut in another e-mail if he believed Silva had written the retirement letter.

Grunhut ignored the reporter's question, instead of responding for comment by setting the record straight.

Upon their installation, board members take an oath of office to support the United States and New Jersey Constitutions, which both protect freedom of the press. However, freedom of the press does not mean that government officials are free to misinform the media or the public.

Instead of building walls, the Lakewood BOE needs to build bridges between themselves and those they serve.

Two years ago, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan discussed how to accomplish that goal.

On October 15, 2010, Duncan received the Robert Coles "Call of Service" award at Harvard University's Memorial Church for his work in education reform.

Duncan commented on the importance of public service in a speech he gave upon receiving the award.

"There is no more important work in society than educating children," Duncan told his audience. "I invite you to a life of service that embraces that mission. Be a teacher. Tutor a student. Volunteer at a school. Transform the life chances of children. The battle for a quality education…is a daily fight for social justice. Please join us."